• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.119-125
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• 2013

Objectives: Medically unexplained fatigue includes chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and idiopathic chronic fatigue (ICF). These disorders quite impair quality of life while no effective therapies exist. Therefore, patients with CFS or ICF frequently choose treatments based on traditional Korean medicine. The study aimed to analyze characteristic of patients visiting an Oriental clinic with CFS or ICF. Methods: Patients who met criteria for CFS or ICF were enrolled in this study, from March 2011 to Jun 2013. Clinical information focused on symptom differentiation and Sasang constitution was analyzed. Pearson's chi-square test was used to compare the frequency among sub-groups. Results: In total, 77 patients (49 male and 28 female) were diagnosed with CFS (17 male and 13 female) or ICF (32 male and 15 female). The symptom differentiation was 37.7%, 26.0%, 13.0%, and 23.3% for "Qi deficiency of both spleen and lung (脾肺氣虛)", "Yin deficiency of both liver and kidney (肝腎陰虛)", "Blood deficiency of both heart and spleen (心脾血虛)" and "Yang deficiency of both spleen and kidney (脾腎陽虛)", while Sasang constitutional distribution was 59.7%, 22.1% and 18.2% Soeumin, Taeumin and Soyangin, respectively. The fatigue severity was notably different between CFS ($63.7{\pm}12.1$) or ICF ($52.2{\pm}15.3$) according to the Chalder fatigue scale (10-point scale for eleven questions). There was statistical significance regarding symptom differentiation and Sasang constitution (p < 0.05). Conclusions: In the process of traditional Korean medicine-based development of therapeutics for patients with chronic fatigue or related conditions, this report can serve as reference data.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.84-90
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• 2019

Objectives: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating illness impairing seriously quality of life, while CFS would be an optimized target disorder of Korean medicine. This study aims to present the recent information especially in aspect of medical policy and new diagnosis criteria for CFS. Methods: The literature survey was conducted using the terms of "chronic fatigue syndrome", "myalgic encephalomyelitis" and "fibromyalgia" in PubMed database and Google database in its entirety from January 2011 to February 2019. The in-depth review was made focusing on the changes in policy and medical perspective for CFS. Results: Recently large medical attentions and researches for CFS have been existed worldwide. By supporting of USA government, IOM made a report which leaded to a turning point in clinical practices and research in 2015. This report recommended a new name of CFS to systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID), and new diagnostic criteria focusing on post-exertional malaise, unrefreshing sleep, cognitive impairment and orthostatic intolerance. The medical perspective also was changed into "a serious, chronic, complex, systemic disease" from a psychological-like disorder, and then UAS and EU governments sharply increased the research grants. Conclusions: This study provided practitioners in Korean medicine (KM) a core information about the recent changes in CFS-related perspectives. This review would be helpful for KM-derived researches or therapeutics development for CFS.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.93-106
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• 2020

Objectives: The aim of this review is to ascertain whether Bojungikgi-tang and its modifications is more effective than non-specific management in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Methods: We collected clinical trials to investigate the effects of Bojungikgi-tang and non-specific management on general symptoms, fatigue, and sleep quality in CFS patients. The databases used for data retrieval were Pubmed, Central Cochrane, CNKI, VIP, CiNii, OASIS, RISS, and Koreamed. We performed selection/exclusion process from the found records according to prespecified criteria, and assessed the final included trials according to the Cochrane risk of bias tool. The included studies were classified on the basis of interventions in experimental group. Results: Seven randomized controlled trials (476 participants) were eligible and their results were synthesized in the meta-analysis. The synthesis showed a substantial effect of Bojungikgi-tang (relative risk 0.20 [95% CI 0.13 to 0.31], Z=7.44, P<0.00001; I²=0%) and combination of Bojungikgi-tang and Sosiho-tang (relative risk 0.15 [95% CI 0.08 to 0.28], Z=5.85, P<0.00001; I²=0%) compared with non-specific management on improvement of general symptoms. However, we could not find sufficient clinical research records to determine their effects of improvement on fatigue and sleep quality. Conclusions: Bojungikgi-tang and its modifications are more effective than non-specific management for improvement of general symptoms in CFS post-treatment.

• Journal of Korean Orthopaedic Sports Medicine
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2010

The prevalence of overuse syndrome in the lower extremity including chronic compartment syndrome and stress fracture is increasing with popularity of sports activities. Chronic compartment syndrome is defined as elevation of the interstitial pressure during exertional activities in a closed osseofascial compartment that results in microvascular compromise and operative procedures can be necessary if conservative treatments fail. Stress fracture can be classified as fatigue and insufficiency fracture; stress fracture occurs by repeated strain under abnormal conditions from the patient's activity whereas insufficiency fracture does by those from a process intrinsic to the bone. Most stress fractures occur in the lower extremity, most commonly in the tibial region. Fatigue fractures begin in athletes with the change in their training programs. The radiographic findings are usually diagnostic or at least strongly suggestive and MRI has proven to be a beneficial diagnostic tool for difficult diagnostic cases. Fatigue fractures are treated with a decrease in activity, but surgical procedure may be necessary in those in anterior cortex of the tibial diaphysis.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.242-246
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to report on the clinical improvement of a patient treated with Korean medicine for Post COVID-19 syndrome. A 52-year-old male patient with headache and chronic fatigue was diagnosed with post-acute COVID-19 syndrome. He had clinical symptoms such as headache, sweating, fatigue, and insomnia and was treated with acupuncture and herbal medicines such as Sasammaekmoondong-tang. To assess the treatment outcomes, the authors used the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and the Numeral Rating Scale (NRS). Following treatment, fatigue improved, with the FSS score dropping from 48 at the first visit to 18 at the final visit, and clinical symptoms such as headache and insomnia disappeared. According to the findings of this study, Korean Medicine could be used in the clinic to treat post-COVID-19 complications.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2007

The chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome (abbreviated CFIDS or CFS) is a disorder characterized by debilitating fatigue(over 6 months.), along with cognitive, musculoskeletal, and sleep abnormalities. The etiology of this illness is unlikely to be a single agent. Findings to date suggest that physiological and psychological factors work together to predispose and perpetuate the illness. Diagnosis is made difficult by the nonspecific clinical findings and no available diagnostic testing. With no known cause or cure for the chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome, treatment is based on relieving symptoms and improving the quality of life of affected patients. There is emerging evidence that chronic fatigue syndrome may be familial. In the future, studies will examine the extent to which genetic and environmental factors play a role in the development of chronic fatigue syndrome. Most patients with CFS have psychiatric problems such as a generalized anxiety disorder, or major or minor depression, therefore, these mental health disorders may be correlated with the pathophysiology of the CFS. The treatment for CFS must be individualized, due to the heterogeneity of the CFS population. Also the treatment of CFS is built on a foundation of patient-physician relationship, respect and advocacy.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.293-305
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a questionnaire for the diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) designed based on the systematic exertion intolerance disorder (SEID) criteria, and to validate the reliability of the questionnaire. Methods: A literature search on questionnaires for CFS diagnosis was conducted to develop a SEID questionnaire (SEID-Q27), followed by a pilot survey to identify the reliability of the questionnaire. Adults (Daejeon university personnel) with a Chalder fatigue scale (CFQ) score ≥15 were invited for the survey. We commenced the survey in November 2019 with a two weeks of interval for the test and retest method. The reliability of the questionnaire was investigated in three angles: 1. Cronbach's α, 2. correlations (r) of the questions, numerical rating scale (NRS), and visual analog scale (VAS), and 3. kappa (k) analysis. Results: Among the total 275 adults registered, 55 (20%) participants with a CFQ score ≥15 were invited, and 31 (11%) [15 male, 16 female] completed the questionnaire. The total Cronbach's α was 0.944 for the test and 0.949 for the retest. The reliability (r) of questions by CFQ score (≥15, ≥18, ≥20) ranged from 0.533-0.928 (p <0.05), and the r score of the NRS and VAS were the highest in CFQ scores ≥20, at 0.933 (p<0.001). The agreement rate of the SEID-Q27 between the test and retest was 87% (kappa k=0.743). Conclusions: The SEID-Q27 seems to be reliable. Further studies are needed to measure the validity of the tool and the cutoff point.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.64-68
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• 2001

The nutcracker syndrome is the congestion of left renal vein due to the compression of left renal vein by the aorta and the superior mesenteric artery and has been known as tile cause of hematuria with or without left renal flank pain, mild to moderate proteinuria and orthostatic proteinuria. We present here one case of 13.5 year of girl has severe typical nutcracker syndrome with orthostatic protinuria and idiopathic chronic fatigue. (J. Korean Soc Pediatr Nephrol 5 . 64- 8, 2001)

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.109-120
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• 2003

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the clinical efficacy of EC102, a composition containing oriental medicine, for relieving VDT syndrome, including eye symptoms and musculo-skeletal symptoms. Methods: The study was conducted by using a double blind randomized controlled trial design. 40 subjects were randomly assigned to the placebo group or the EC102 group. The visual analogous scale (VAS) was used to evaluate various VDT symptoms, including eye pain, eye fatigue, back pain, shoulder pain and so on. Refractory indexes were measured using refractometer, and tear film break-up time (BUT) were measured using fluorescein strip. Blood circulation was measured using photo-plethysmography. Blood pressure and blood biochemistry were also measured. Statistical analysis was conducted by a Mann-Whitney test using SPSS 9.0 software. Results: The EC102 group showed a statistically significant reduction of eye symptoms including eye fatigue, eyelid fatigue, itching, pain, and photophobia when compared with the placebo group (P<0.05). The EC102 group also showed a statistically significant reduction of back pain compared with the placebo group (P<0.05). No side effects on liver function and blood biochemistry were observed. Conclusions: EC102 has significant clinical efficacy for relieving symptoms of VDT syndrome.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.609-617
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• 2003

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand the depression of patients for Fibromyalgia Syndrome(FMS) and to identify the factors influencing depression. Method: The instruments used here are Beck Depression Inventory in depression, the Korean Rheumatology Health Association' instruments in Self-Efficacy. Also, Pain and Fatigue was measured by Visual Graphic Rating Scale. The subject of study is 76 outpatients diagnosing FMS from rheumatism specialists at C hospital in D city. The data has been collected from Sep. 1st to Sep. 30th in 2001. For the analysis of collected data, frequency analysis, independent t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation and multiple regression analysis were used for statistical analysis with SAS statistical program. Result: General characteristics showing statistically significant difference in depression were age, education, occupation, gender, exercise and sleep in the patients with FMS. Depression for the patients with FMS has negative correlation coefficients with Self-efficacy and ADL, and positive correlation coefficients with Pain and Fatigue. The suitable regression form resulting from the multiple regression analysis to investigate the influencing factors of depression for the partients with FMS was expressed by y =50.067 - 0.278x$_1$ + 1.320x$_2$ (x$_1$: Self-Efficacy x$_2$: Fatigue) and $R^2$ =0.427. Conclusion: The factors influencing on depression of patients for FMS was Self-Efficacy, ADL, Pain, and Fatigue. Further study needs to be done identify methods of overcoming and presentation of depression in FMS.